Digital Detox 7: Fact checking quickly

Earlier this year while watching the news one of the anchors perfectly captured my exasperation with our current information loop. As I listened to yet another interview with someone who made vast generalizations that appeared custom-designed to pivot away from answering a question and towards an attack on someone who disagreed with them, the interviewer paused with an incredulous look on his face and asked point blank:

“Do facts matter anymore?”

I remember feeling relieved to see someone pointing out that there are still such things as facts. It might be a relief to you to know that there are specific skills and techniques that you can use in the digital realm to find the truth in an image, video, or news article. In Mike Caulfield’s online book “Web Literacy for Student Fact Checkers” he states:

“What people need most when confronted with a claim which may not be 100% true is things they can do to get closer to the truth. They need something we have decided to call moves.”

“The habit is simple. When you feel strong emotion — happiness, anger, pride, vindication — and that emotion pushes you to share a “fact” with others, STOP. Above all, it’s these things that you must fact-check.

Why? Because you’re already likely to check things you know are important to get right, and you’re predisposed to analyze things that put you an intellectual frame of mind. But things that make you angry or overjoyed, well… our record as humans are not good with these things.”

Use Snopes, the “oldest and largest fact-checking site on the Internet, one widely regarded by journalists, folklorists, and laypersons alike as one of the world’s essential resources” to check that claim you are questioning.

Critically consider how your own personal biases impact the information you are more likely to assume to be true, and use these fact checking tips on those statements as well as those that cause an immediate emotional reaction.

Check in with your local librarian to learn more about resources available to you to do additional fact-checking work.

What information do you more readily believe? Are there viewpoints that you are missing out on because of your view of the world? What are some simple steps you will take to begin to integrate a fact-checking mindset into your routine?